A full-face-type helmet has been known. This helmet includes a full-face-type head protecting cap portion worn by the rider of a motor cycle or the like on his/her head, a shield plate capable of opening/closing the window opening formed in the front surface of the head protecting cap portion to oppose the portion between the forehead and chin of the helmet wearer, and chin straps attached to the head protecting cap portion. According to such a full-face-type helmet, almost the entire head of the helmet wearer can be protected by the head protecting cap portion.
The conventional full-face-type helmet having the above structure, however, is not easy to wear and remove from the head of wearer because the head protecting cap portion is also of a full-face type. According to recent full-face-type helmets, to improve the safety of the helmets and feeling of wearing them during a drive, the lower end portion of the head protecting cap portion is narrowed. In addition, it is heightened more to fit the head and face of the wearer due to inside pads for the cheeks and the like. Owing to this structure, when a helmet wearer, e.g., the rider of a motor cycle, has a traffic accident, e.g., a motor cycle accident, a person who takes care of the rider needs a large force to remove the full-face-type head protecting cap portion from the head of the helmet wearer. For this reasons, it is considerably difficult for one person to remove the helmet from the wearer.
This point will be described below with reference to FIG. 12. FIG. 12 shows an experiment aimed at measuring the force required to remove a full-face-type helmet 1. A bolt 4 with a ring is attached to the top portion of a full-face-type head protecting cap portion 3 of a conventional full-face-type helmet 1 worn on the head of a helmet wearer 2. The lower end of a spring balancer 5 is coupled to the bolt 4.
In the state shown in FIG. 12 (the chin straps (not shown) were unfastened from the chin of the wearer 2), the upper end of the spring balancer 5 was pulled upward. In this case, when a pair of blockish inside pads for the right and left cheeks were attached to the interior of the head protection cap portion 3, the helmet 1 could not be removed until a tension of 16 kg was applied to the top portion of the head protecting cap portion 3. In contrast to this, when the pair of blockish inside pads for the right and left cheeks were detached from the interior of the head protecting cap portion 3, the helmet 1 could be removed by applying only a tension of 2.5 kg to the top portion of the head protecting cap portion 3.
The experiment shown in FIG. 12 revealed that a large force was usually required to remove the full-face-type helmet 1, and that not so large force was required to remove the full-face-type helmet 1 when the blockish inside pads for the cheeks were detached from the interior of the head protecting cap portion 3.
On the basis of the results of the experiment shown in FIG. 12, the present applicant previously proposed the invention disclosed in EP 0 879 566 A2. According to the invention disclosed in EP 0 879 566 A2, when the rider of the motor cycle or the like wears the above-described conventional full-face-type helmet, in order to at least partly pull out the blockish inside pads for the right and left cheeks from the interior of the head protecting cap portion, right and left pull members extruded downward from these blockish inside pads are respectively attached to the blockish inside pads for the right and left cheeks. According to the helmet disclosed in EP 0 872 566 A2, a plurality of male hooks are formed on the blockish inside pads for the right and left cheeks. Also, a plurality of female hooks are formed on the head protection cap portion to be able to recess-projection fit with the plurality of male hooks. The blockish inside pads for the right and left cheeks are attached to the head protection cap portion by recess-projection fitting the plurality of male hooks in the plurality of female hooks.
However, According to the helmet disclosed in EP 0 879 566 A2, prior to removal of the helmet from the head of the helmet wearer having a traffic accident, e.g., a motor cycle accident, a person who takes care of the helmet wearer must
(a) disengage the plurality of male hooks from the plurality of female hooks directly by hand or by operating an operating member by hand, and
(b) at least partially pull out the blockish inside pad for the right and/or left cheek from the head protection cap portion by pulling the pull member.
Since the helmet must be removed from the head of the helmet wearer after performing these two types of preliminary operations described in (a) and (b), the preliminary operations for removing the helmet become cumbersome, and cannot be performed quickly.